Rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas yesterday told the Delhi High Court that Arvind Kejriwal is a habitual liar and his lies have led to this situation. Calling out lack of supporting evidence against the defamatory statements against Arun Jaitley, Vishwas said that the AAP Supremo either lied then or is lying now. The AAP founding member said that his statements against Jaitley relating to irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) were based on information he received as a party worker.
Vishwas, who was present in the court, said that before apologising to Jaitley, he would like to know from Kejriwal when was he lying and when was he telling truth. He said he needs time to decide what statement he would make before apologising, since he is the only one against whom the case remains, so that the suit can be disposed of as he does not wish to take the matter further.
On 1st April, Kejriwal, along with other leaders like AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, leader Ashutosh and AAP National Executive Member Raghav Chadha who once found defamation suit slapped by Jaitley ‘interesting‘ had written an apology to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley since they now have come to the conclusion that the allegations were unfounded and unwarranted.
Kejriwal even added that the part where his former counsel Ram Jethmalani, who was supposed to get Kejriwal out of trouble, invited a second defamation case against Kejriwal by referring to Jaitley as a ‘crook’, did not have Kejriwal’s approval. He said he does not approve of the ‘disparaging and malicious statements made by Jethmalani’.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley in December 2015 had filed a defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal and 5 others for what he claimed were false allegations regarding his alleged role in certain irregularities in the DDCA (Delhi & District Cricket Association). Jaitley sought compensation of 10 crore rupees due to damages caused by alleged defamatory statements by Kejriwal. After the case was filed, Kejriwal sought the legal help of eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani to untangle himself from the mess. But for Kejriwal, hiring Jethmalani resulted in him getting into a further mess. During a hearing in May 2017, Ram Jethmalani went into an overdrive and called Arun Jaitley a “crook”, to which Jaitley lodged a strong objection. When Jethmalani was asked whether he was authorised by Kejriwal to use the term, Jethmalani answered in affirmative. Following which, Jaitley filed another defamation case against Kejriwal.
In a twist in the tale, in July last year, Jethmalani called Kejriwal a ‘liar’ and quit as his counsel. Jethmalani had also asked Kejriwal to settle his pending legal fees, which amounted over Rs 2 crore as per media estimates. In February last year, the Delhi government, on behalf of the Chief Minister and the five other AAP leaders, had cleared a bill of Rs 3.5 crore to Jethmalani by burdening the exchequer.
Recently, Kejriwal has been on an apologising spree with him seeking forgiveness for his remarks on union minister Nitin Gadkari, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia and former union minister Kapil Sibal which led to defamation cases against him.
